A Brother's Love
by bffimagine
Summary: Heya! This is a Kai & Tala fic, but there is a good helping of Rei in it too. This is not part of the Blood for Honor series, and it isn't a tragedy yet still it is a deathfic. Rei is uncovering Kai's past, but why when Kai is about to die?
1. A Friend's Consolation

Bffimagine: Hello everyone. Here is my second original Beyblade fic. That means it isn't part of the Blood for Honor sequence. Sorry.  
  
A Brother's Love, A Friend's Consolation  
  
"No, don't whip Tala! No! Take me instead! I know I didn't do anything, but Tala didn't either! No! I SAID TAKE ME INSTEAD!" Kai was moaning in his sleep. Rei tried to console him, taking his heavily bandaged hand and stroking it gently.  
  
Tala sat in the corner, listening as Kai relives his past. His eyes were glazed over with unshed tears, as he remembered the past incident as well.  
  
"What's he moaning about Tala?" Rei asked softly, as to not wake Kai.  
  
"Well," Tala started----  
  
(Flashback)  
"The Black Dranzer prototype has been stolen Mr. Voltaire. We suspect one of the orphans took it," a scientist's voice boomed into the radio.  
  
Voltaire looked into the eyes of each orphan, and stopped at the redhead.  
  
"You," he roared, pointing his finger at the ten-year-old boy.  
  
"I-I d-didn't-t t-take it-t S-sir," the little boy stuttered, intimidated by the man's harshness.  
  
With disdain brimming within, Voltaire removed a horsewhip from inside his coat and lowered with a 'crack' onto the red-haired boy's back. Blood trailed from the whip and splattered onto the wall, making the other boys cringe.  
  
"No, don't whip Tala! No! Take me instead! I know I didn't do anything, but Tala didn't either! No! I SAID TAKE ME INSTEAD!" six-year-old Kai yelled from his place beside Tala in line.  
  
"Why would you take this worthless runt's place Kai? You are a Hiwatari. WE ENJOY CAUSING PAIN!" Voltaire scolded, readying the whip for another crash against flesh.  
  
"Tala's been my brother, and I can't stand here and watch him suffer. Take me instead! Or are you too afraid, Grandfather?" Kai added his last word after a menacing pause, seeing Voltaire's hesitation.  
  
Eyes narrowing to slits, Voltaire pushed Tala back into his place in line. He grabbed Kai and pushed him hard so he skidded across the floor. Then he started whipping and beating him, cutting him with knives and daggers, and soon Kai seemed only to be a bloody mess. Bruises covered the flesh that hadn't been cut to ribbons.  
  
"Kai, you didn't have to take my place," Tala whispered sadly into Kai's ear.  
  
"I'd do anything for my brother," Kai whispered softly before passing out.  
  
(End of Flashback)  
  
"And that's how it all happened. I still don't see why he took all that pain," Tala felt the tears slide down his cheeks, and he wiped them away with his sleeve.  
  
Rei averted his gaze to Kai, who now had some fresh wounds all over his body. Rei quickly wrapped the bleeding cuts in gauze, and whispered quiet words to Kai to console his pain.  
  
"Kai has a strange condition," the doctor mused, walking into Kai's hospital room, "Whenever he hallucinates, or remembers his past, his tissues seem to tear apart quickly, and his skin rips along with it. That explains all is wounds, and not to mention his nightmares. But," the doctor paused thoughtfully, "if we can't find a cure, he'll die."  
  
Tala looked like he wasn't phased by the doctor's remark, but Rei was ready to break down in tears.  
  
"Kai can't die, not now. He's only fourteen!" tears burned Rei's eyes.  
  
"I can die Rei," Kai sighed from his bed, "and it would be a good riddance for you and the rest of the world."  
  
"Good riddance? GOOD RIDDANCE? What are you talking about Kai?!?!?!" Rei yelled defiantly.  
  
"We don't WANT you to die Kai. If you think otherwise, you are severely mistaken. Don't leave me little brother." Tala spoke calmly, surprisingly keeping his cool when Rei couldn't.  
  
A miracle hit that very spot. Kai laughed. He LAUGHED. And when he stopped laughing he smiled. A SMILE FROM KAI!  
  
"Alright then Tala. You're eighteen now so you do the math. If my condition perseveres, and I only had a year to live to start with BEFORE I had this condition, how long will I have to live?"  
  
"About six months Kai. This is irrelevant to what we were talking to you about. Why did you ask?" Tala responded almost flatly.  
  
"Because there is one last thing I want either of you to do before you leave. Pull the IV out of my arm since I can't reach it." Kai replied as flatly as Tala.  
  
Rei's eyes widened in silent horror.  
  
"Why? Why would you want us to do that? You'll bleed to death Kai! If we remove that IV, then you'll die in less than five minutes!" He flailed his arms in the air.  
  
"To save me from six months of pain."  
  
"No." Tala's voice was firm and confident, so Kai didn't argue. "Rei will learn more of your past Kai, through me, and your nightmares." He turned to Rei and said "If you come here with me everyday as of tomorrow, you will learn of Kai's dark and blood-stained past. But you should know, because I trust you."  
  
Bffimagine: Cliffy! Kai: I would be mad at you for leaving them on hold, but I know you've typed out the end already. Bffiamgine: Oh yeah, uh, it's a deathfic for most of you to know, but keep reading 'cause it's very interesting. 


	2. Sleep and Food Denied

Bffimagine: Here I am again. I know I suck at writing, just please read the rest of this fic. PLEASE. For Kai.

Kai: For me. And because this fic is really good.

The next day, Rei met Tala inside Kai hospital room. However, this time around Kai was not asleep, rather he was wide-awake.

New cuts and gashes suddenly opened across Kai's body, and Tala quickly bound them with gauze. Kai didn't flinch when his wounds got covered, or when they were inflicted on him. Pain was a normal thing to Kai.

"Um, hello?" Rei was unsure what to say.

"Come in Rei," Kai flashed Rei a small smile before he leaned his head into his hands.

"Kai, you have to eat. Voltaire starved you most of the time at the Abbey, and now you have food available to you and you refuse! You need nutrients in your blood. Other wise you'll die faster!" Tala resumed his previous argument with Kai he had started before Rei walked in.

Rei looked at Kai. He was almost completely covered in bandages except is face. His steel gray eyes were thoughtful and absent, clouded with memory and blank with pain.

"What do you mean by Voltaire starving him in the Abbey?" Rei inquired, furrowing his eyebrows in disapproval of Kai's refusal of food.

(Flashback)

"You stole food for Tala AGAIN!?!?! Kai! That earns you another night of beatings and no food for half a year. Only water will keep you alive. Tala should not have any more food than he already has Kai. Why do you get him more?" Voltaire thundered, angry with his eight-year-old grandson.

"Tala's twelve grandfather! He needs more food than a slice of bread and a glass of water!" Tears were in Kai's eyes, and he was yelling at his grandfather at the top of his lungs.

"You dare question me? That earns you a month's worth of beatings, and no food for a year!" Voltaire was very angry now.

"At least give Tala more food, and then you can beat me for the rest of my life here!" Kai bargained, confident that Tala would have his salvation.

"Fine. I'll give the redhead decent meals three times a day but you will get beaten every night for the rest of your life here in the Abbey. Got that?" Voltaire snapped.

"Deal."

(End of Flashback)

"Kai made a lot of sacrifices for me back then," Tala mused, "and he still does now."

"Why was Voltaire so cruel?" Rei asked timidly.

"No one knows." Kai replied flatly, not looking up.

"Oh, and you have to try and sleep more Kai. Remember the month you stayed up all nights and days with me when I was sick, just taking care of me? You got beaten during the day for that." Tala was very stern about his statements.

"Well that's enough history for me," Rei stood up and stretched. "Tell me that other story tomorrow."

"Okay. Goodnight Rei," Kai rasped from his bed. He even tried to flash a small smile towards the raven-haired boy.

"Be sure to come tomorrow Rei," warned Tala, his voice almost menacing.

"I will," Rei announced solemnly. (And so will YOU)

bffimagine: That chapter was shorter than the first...

Kai: Yeah. That's weird...


	3. Acceptance

Bffimagine: Heya everybody!

Kai: Why do you even PUT author's notes up here? It wastes our valuable reading time!

Bffimagine: Inny told you about the 'characters of fics cannot review' rule didn't he?

Kai: Yeah. Humph.

'Without food for more than five days, Kai would've died. Without water for more than two, Kai would've died. Losing that much blood, Kai would've died.' Rei was thinking about the logic to Tala's tales. Then he remembered what Tala said to him as he was leaving the day before.

'Voltaire kept Kai on a drug that kept him going. It liquefied body tissues and fats, so Kai was basically eating himself and drinking the water in his blood. And that drug also gave him an abnormal amount of blood, about two litres more than the average human. I suppose that's why Kai sometimes refuses to eat. That drug made him sick quite a lot.'

Grimacing at the thought, Rei took a deep breath before opening the door.

Rei stealthily slipped through the door of Kai's room, yet he was still noticed by Tala. Kai was asleep, tossing and turning, moaning through his nightmares.

"Why do you even bother? You can't break my pride. I won't scream for you Grandfather. And I never will." Kai was covered in blood and cold sweat, dripping in the diluted crimson liquid.

"THAT tale is a sad one," Tala whispered, wiping Kai's face with a white cloth. When he removed the cloth from Kai's skin, it was no longer white, but a deep garnet burgundy crimson, some areas so dark one may think it was ebony.

(Flashback)

"You want to take the punishment for Tala's misbehavior Kai? Well then you're in for a lot of pain." Voltaire's lips curled into a sick smile.

"No Kai! Let me take the punishment. He thinks I stole the food, not you. Let me take the pain. You don't deserve it," Tala was trying to change twelve-year-old Kai's mind. "I can probably take more pain than you. I'm four years older than you are."

"Like you have to remind me Tala," Kai laughed slightly, "But neither of us stole the food. You don't need to suffer."

"But you don't either!" Tala shouted back.

"I can't stand to see you suffer big brother," Kai responded calmly and patiently.

"And you think I can stand to watch you suffer? Kai! Every time you get beaten, it's as if someone's tearing at my heart. I can't take that pain anymore," Tala was almost crying.

"You've taken it well for now. Please, just take it for a while longer. If I had to watch you suffer, I'd try to kill myself. You wouldn't want that happening would you?" Kai shot toward Tala, who was biting his lip.

"ARE YOU DONE YET?" Voltaire yelled impatiently, rolling his eyes in annoyance.

"Yes," Kai stood triumphantly at Tala's look of defeat, "I'll go."

"Kai, Kai, Kai. I wanted to get the redhead, but you seem to have volunteered. Alright then." Voltaire waved his hand at Tala dismissively, turning his body to face Kai. Drawing a horsewhip, he brought it down o Kai's flesh with a sickening 'crack'.

"Scream," Voltaire panted with every stroke of the whip.

"Why do you even bother?" Kai laughed bitterly, "You can't break my pride. I won't scream for you Grandfather. And I never will."

Voltaire kept whipping Kai, his strokes more powerful with every hit to Kai's back. "Why won't you just scream? I'll stop if you do." Voltaire was fuming mad when Kai refused to scream, and brought the whip down even harder than ever before.

Kai bit his lip to prevent himself from screaming, tasting metallic, coppery blood when he bit too hard. Finally, Voltaire gave up, turning on his heel to leave.

"That was both your usual beatings and your punishment. Go to bed." Voltaire strode out of the room.

Kai tried to smile a smile of triumph, but failed as he collapsed to the cold stone floor.

(End of Flashback)

"That's awful," Rei said softly, looking at Kai with sympathy.

"And I remember lying in bed, hearing Voltaire yell at Kai and every crack of that horrid whip. I suppose that's why he never talks much now, building a wall of ice around himself to block out everyone else, and his pain. Pain that he cannot rid himself of. If he did talk more though, most people would pity him about his past. Kai does not live for the past, he lives for now, and he doesn't want people's sympathy. He just wants their acceptance."

Bffimagine: If I sucked any more at writing, would have to kick me off the author's list.

Kai: I don't think you suck at writing.

Bffimagine: I do. And I suck a lot. Oh, and by the way: A reviewer has pointed out very kindly that I have quiet a few plot holes… I sorta left them to make you guys die of suspense and most of it was exaggeration, but since it was a review I modified this chapter to make things make sense. If any other holes are found, please let me know and I'll kill all these plot termites.


	4. If I Die Before I Wake

Bffimagine: Hello people I may or may not know! I know I suck at writing, but if you started reading this fic, please continue.

Kai: I guess you expect them to FINISH this fic?

Bffimagine: Yup.

Kai: Okay, you're scaring me now. Why don't you seem as 'happy' as you usually are?

Bffimagine: Someone said '&# you' to me so now I feel slightly messed. Not angry, messed.

Kai: Why messed?

Bffimagine: Because I can't be mad at the person. I specifically said if they were pissed at me to e-mail me.

Rei's heart quickened pace as he saw doctors rush past him.

'They're probably going to see someone who needs surgery,' Rei thought, shaking the thought off his shoulders.

"Rei, get over here," Tala's breathless whisper caught Rei's attention as if pigs with wings were flying across the street.

"What's going on?" Rei asked, appalled that Tala wasn't in Kai's room. A cold fear clenched his heart tightly, and he now regretted asking the question.

"Kai slipped into a coma fifteen minutes ago. The doctors say he had a concussion. Kai's had one before, so I'm guessing he was remembering that. With this strange condition of his, Kai's memories of torture are coming to life, which could result in his death." Tala had unshed tears shining in his eyes, diamonds that would be released into nothingness.

"He's had a concussion before?" Rei asked, barely hiding his own tears.

(Flashback)

"Tala, watch out!" Kai yelled the year before he joined the blade breakers (that means he's still twelve ppl).

"Huh?" The unsuspecting Tala replied, clueless to the fact that a large stone was falling overhead.

Seeing Tala was utterly unmoved to the fatal boulder-like object, Kai ran over to push Tala out of the way. However, when he tried to get out of the object's target area, he tripped and the object hit him on the head.

(End of Flashback)

"He was out cold for about three months," Tala almost sobbed, "I always prayed he would wake up."

"He did then, so he should now," Rei tried to console himself as well as Tala.

"I dunno. But he told me to give this to you five minutes before he went into his coma," Tala whispered, producing a neatly folded piece of paper from his pocket. It had Kai's strangely tidy handwriting scrawled across it.

Rei cautiously took the paper from Tala's hand and read it to himself.

Dear Rei,

I must be leaving soon. Watch for me, disappearing behind cloud. Watch out for Tala for me. Remember Rei; I will leave a piece of me with you. That piece is Tala. My brother. My friend. You are the closest thing I've had to a father Rei, believe it or not. If I die before I wake, then remember, you are the best friend I've ever had.

Kai

Rei allowed the small slip of paper to flutter to the ground as he started crying into Tala's arms. Tala was taken by surprise, reaching over slightly to pick up Kai's note. He read through it quickly, tears coming to his eyes as well.

"You're all I have left Tala. All I have left of Kai." Rei was sobbing uncontrollably, but Tala held back his tears when he saw a little postscript on the bottom of the paper:

P.S. If you're reading this Tala, I love you big brother.

Rei and Tala stopped their tears for long enough to see a white scarf disappear behind a fluffy cloud.

Bffimagine: There! Are you ppl happy now?

Kai: I am! You didn't say the phrase 'Kai died'.

Bffimagine: But you are dead FYI. It's just a very obvious implication. I know this story sucked, but PLEASE review!


End file.
